Sacrifice
by JessSYLim
Summary: Luck comes in many different forms. Meet Jade, a human living in a world with vampires who only wants her family to be reunited. What is her bucket list? Her luck? Note: This is number 7 on the bucket list, although the others will be mentioned as well. The numbers 4 and 9 are skipped due to the bad luck they symbolise in Japanese culture. 7 is considered lucky.
1. Part One

**Sacrifice**

 **Part One**

 **Bucket List:**

 **1) Reunite with my family**

 **2) Find all the orphans a well-deserved home**

 **3) Tell Kaname Kuran how I feel**

 **5) Live in peace with vampires**

 **6) Skydive with Zero and Ichiru**

 **7) Save Zero**

 **8) Become a professional mechanic**

 **10) Win a horse show**

 **11) Tell the truth of my survival**

 **12) Wear jewellery**

I woke up panting, my hand glued to my heaving chest as I tried to collect myself after that dream. Looking at the ashen walls of the Moon dorm and the royal blue canopy bed I was currently sitting on, I couldn't help but wonder what lengths I would go to in order to stop Zero's fall to Level E. My laughter was breathless, my breath yet to be caught as the sound filled the room. I didn't even need to ask myself. The answer was simple. I would do anything.

Taking off my right glove to reveal my metal hand, I stared blankly at what made me so different than everyone else, vampires and humans. I knew that I was beyond lucky to survive the tragedy that broke apart the Kiryu vampire hunter family, despite my parents and Ichiru's unluckiness. I wished Zero didn't have his vampirism haunting him. We all lost something that day. I lost my left eye and two body parts, Zero lost his humanity, Ichiru managed to come out physically unharmed but lost his sanity in the process, and our parents lost their lives.

If I could do anything to increase Zero's luck, I would. His fall to Level E had been slowed thanks to Kaname Kuran, but even Kaname's blood couldn't sustain him forever. Zero would eventually fall to Level E if I didn't do something. It was already so painful for him to resist...

Snapping myself out of that train of thought, I focused on the matter at hand. It was time to test out my newest annex to my cyborg limbs. The newly-added armour was state of the art and impenetrable. It was light and made no sound, with even a sound-proofing option for sneaking and jumping. It was one of my greatest inventions yet if I did say so myself.

That dream, though... I wasn't sure if I could even call it a dream. It was more like a vision, and it reminded me of that bucket list I scribbled mindlessly a while ago. I remembered skipping the numbers four and nine because of the sorrow that they brought with them. Didn't need any more of that, thank you very much.

I padded over to my birch wood dresser where the list sat in one of the drawers. Opening the drawer in which it was contained, I stared at the list scrawled in my messy handwriting for a moment. How vital was it?

 _Crunch!_ The list whooshed into the metal wastebasket, crumpled into a ball. I didn't need a stupid bucket list to tell me my goals in life. Like, wear jewellery? I never could before at the orphanage, so what made any difference now?

It was time to get to it. That dream, or vision, whatever it was, was telling me something. Something that could help Zero.

I didn't even bother to cover my right hand and forearm. They, along with my left eye, would be my greatest asset in this quest. Pressing the button that activated the armour, I perched on the windowsill. It was daytime, so I wasn't expected in any classes and all the vampires would be resting inside.

Swinging myself off, I landed cleanly on the ground, although I fell onto my hands. Luckily, nothing was broken or bruised, thanks to the armour.

Brushing myself off, I was about to move, but then I froze when I heard a voice call, "Bang!" I jumped. Aido stood there, one hand pointing a finger gun at me, the other in his pocket.

"What the fluffernutter, Aido?" I whispered, not wanting other vampires to find me. Relaxing, I deactivated the annexour and tucked my right behind my back, hiding the metal on my fore and hand. Aido was the most playful, so he wasn't really a threat. Unless he told Kaname.

"Fluffernutter, really?" he questioned. I just raised an eyebrow. "Well, wherever you're going, be on your way then, since I know it's somewhere you're not supposed to be. My gun of love doesn't seem to affect you," Aido sighed, making a shooing motion with his hands.

Briefly nodding once at Aido as a thank you, I took the hint and high-tailed it out of there.

 _Didn't he_ _notice my metal or armour disappearing?_

"Wow, I got lucky," I whispered-thought. "Alright, time to get focused. I need to do this."

Shaking my head to clear my mind, I re-pressed the button, closing my eyes as the armour grew from my forearm and covered the rest of my body. Then I walked away from Cross Academy, potentially to my death. I didn't care, though. As long as Zero was safe and happy, free from his turmoil, I was fine with sacrificing myself.

After some time of roaming, I arrived at a stone circle as black as night with a blood-red rose blooming in the centre. It was as weird as the dream and that rose was in the dream.

Sucking in a deep breath, I clenched my fists in determination and stepped onto the circle. After nothing happened, I cautiously stepped farther, leaning down to pick the rose like in the dream.

I felt like I was drowning. No, I _was_ drowning. Drowning in blood. Zero's blood? Ichiru's? I couldn't tell. All I knew was that I would die, and there was nothing I could do about it.


	2. Part Two

**Part Two**

My head hit the ground. Was I dead? No, I could feel everything. I groaned, holding my head as I sat up. What happened? My armour was gone and something was clutched in my hand. A stem... the rose!

Crouching then hesitantly standing up, I looked around only to be met with dark stone, barely illuminated by something, but there were no candles or torches on the walls or hanging from the ceiling. In fact, the light wasn't even coming from the stone at all.

The light was for sure below me, so I looked down only to see that the rose, still clutched in my metal right hand, was glowing. The source of light was the rose.

I grasped the stem of the rose tighter, the sharp thorns scratching against my metal palm. I still didn't know exactly what happened and how I got down here, but I couldn't lose my only source of light. Reaching out to gently graze the stone wall with my left fingers, the coldness of it seeping through my body, I began to slowly pad along, using the wall and the glow from the rose as my guides.

It seemed to go on forever. My boots, crafted out of titanium for my feet alone by yours truly, echoed off the also stone floor. Would this stone hall ever end? Finally, it did. I raised my right hand, the metal one, to have the rose's glow illuminate what awaited me. I found three tunnels, all carved with the same dark stone as the hall. The floor was still stone and the tunnels were identical. Maybe my artificial eye's functions would work down here... Never mind. No such luck. Alright, guess my only other option was to just pick a tunnel since I couldn't use technology to differentiate the differences between them.

Lifting my other hand, I closed my eyes and pointed at one of the tunnels. Opening my eyes, I saw that the tunnel I was pointing at was the one on the right. Okay, that was the tunnel I was going down.

At the start, I marched down the tunnel, now confident I was going somewhere; however, I then heard something that made me stop abruptly. Ghastly moans filled the air, and with them floated lost souls. They were coming straight toward me!

I froze, not knowing what to do as I grasped the rose desperately. Suddenly, one of them leapt at me. How could these... things even do that? It came up so close to me, but I couldn't move. I was frozen, tensed-up in that one place.

"S-s-s-siss-ster," the soul hissed. Sister? Only Ichiru called me that... Oh, my God.

"No, no, no! This is not happening. You... you are _not_ Ichiru!" I panicked, now moving, backing away from this creature _._

I jumped, however, when I felt a clammy coldness down my neck. Another one of those _things._ This time, it hissed my name by my ear. If the first one that spoke was supposed to be Ichiru, was this one trying to be Zero?

"Stop pretending to be my family!" I exploded. "Ichiru... Zero... They are not dead! You are just imitations of them, and I... I will not stand for it."

As I did my best to stay firm and demanding, the souls imitating my brothers stared into my eyes with their bottomless empty sockets. They then moaned once more and withdrew, a mysterious fog drifting in as they did. The fog disguised the rest of the souls, only their silhouettes visible. Then, and then, I fainted.

When I woke up, the rose was gone and so was the tunnel. I looked at my right hand, now covered by the glove. It was night-time, the full moon magnificently luminous through the window. I was on the floor... in the Moon dorm. How did I get there?

What happened with the lost souls was unbelievably lucky, but I wasn't sure that lucky would happen again.

Deciding to investigate what in the world happened, I pushed myself off the floor and strode away. Kaname would know what was going on for sure.

When I got there, however, what I witnessed shocked me. Kaname was on top of Ruka, fangs deep in her neck as her head was tilted back, their eyes closed as he drank her blood. It didn't make any sense. They hadn't been together for years now. Could it be... Was this a memory? That didn't stop my heart from clenching, however.

What shattered my heart into an infinite amount of pieces, though, was not that, but something else.

As I staggered away from the memory, feelings stirred from deep within, the air seemed to warp, time twisting into something that would only happen with a traitorous best friend. I stumbled, not able to hold onto anything for balance as everything shifted. When I was stable once again, I was met with a horrendously heart-breaking sight to behold.

Kaname, the Pureblood vampire I loved, was lip-locked with Yuki, my best friend who turned out to be a Pureblood vampire and Kaname's betrothed. Guess my luck with love sucked, even if my luck with family didn't and I got to save Zero and reunite with Ichiru. My younger brothers are whom I really needed to protect.

Everything spiralled downward from there if that was even possible. I was sucked into a void of gruesome memories and nightmares, each one flashing by one by one. The first one was _that_ day. The night my parents died and Zero and Ichiru disappeared.

Thunder crashed and lightning flashed outside. I couldn't sleep, so I cuddled with our parents on the couch. Zero and Ichiru were in bed, comforting each other like usual. All of a sudden, the front door slammed open and a particularly bold flash of lightning illuminated her silhouette. Our parents gasped, jumping up and drawing their weapons. I was confused until the woman bared her fangs.

 _Vampire._

A Pureblood vampire, in fact. It took me a little longer, but then I sensed the unusual scent, mixed with their incredible power, that only Purebloods had. She lunged and our parents dodged, but even they, two of the best hunters, were no match for a vengeful Pureblood. There was rage burning like fire in her eyes. Whatever had happened, this female Pureblood was out to kill.

"No!" I screamed, jumping in front of our parents just as she was about to strike. She paused for a split second, allowing me to brace myself, and then the blow came.

I screamed and screamed as I felt her hand in my eye and when she took it out, I couldn't see out of my left eye. Holding my right hand to my eye, the only thing I felt was the stickiness of blood. When I saw out of my other eye what she held in her hand, I couldn't suppress my horror. As she laughed evilly and uncontrollably, her hand covered in my blood, I saw it. There it was. Pinched between her forefinger and thumb, was my left eye. The one that was missing.

She didn't just stop there, however. Although our parents protested, she dropped my eye and, using the same hand, sliced off my right annex at the elbow in a flash. My fore, the hand still connected, dropped from where it was up against my empty eye socket to the floor, blood spurting from the stump like an erupting volcano. I didn't have any screams left in me. As a fourteen-year-old at that time, it was too much to experience.

My body dropped like a stone straight to the floor. I couldn't move, but out of my right eye, I saw the female Pureblood as she moved to my parents. In one fluid motion, she ripped apart both of them brutally, blood splattering against the walls. I couldn't watch.

I was going through it all over again. It was happening. Locked in my worst memory, I didn't even notice time was twisting again until light brightened the world, driving away the darkness. Uncovering my face and looking up, I gasped in happiness. Standing in front of me where I had collapsed, was Zero.

"Zero, my little brother... you're alive! You're okay," I breathed, my voice still hoarse from all that crying and screaming.

"But, Jade... I'm not okay," Zero cried softly.

My mouth opened slightly. What was wrong? Who hurt Zero? I soon got my answer.

"You didn't save me, Jade. Why didn't you save me?" Zero's voice broke.

 _What?_ I went on the quest that the dream told me about... Why wasn't Zero saved? Why couldn't I protect them? How did I fail?

My tear-stained face, which had broken into a content smile, contorted into an expression of despair. Someone came up behind Zero, identical to his shadow. Ichiru!

Something was happening. Ichiru, now in the light, was fading as he moved closer to Zero. By now, the sides of their bodies had merged together.

"Zero, Ichiru? What's happening?" I asked the both of them.

"Jade..." Zero murmured. Only a small part of them was left separated.

"Sister..." Ichiru murmured. Zero and Ichiru fused into one.

"Save us, Jade!" they pleaded. Unison, their pleas continued. I reached out to them, to comfort them, to promise them, but they too warped away.

I jumped up, running after them. I wouldn't lose them. Not again. I was too late; however. By the time I got to where they were, the light had already been replaced by the orphanage where I spent my life after that female Pureblood attacked. My little brothers were gone and I was destined to be forever alone, having not saved them. I didn't deserve to be a Kiryu. I was a disgrace.

The orphanage was cold and exposed, with occasional sounds of abuse amidst the darkness. I was lucky, I never got beaten. I kept my secret completely hidden and never spoke unless spoken to, but I did witness the mistreatment of others.

I felt my weightless body being picked up, sensed a Pureblood, and heard a soft voice that sounded eerily like Kaname's. I had to be dreaming. Kaname was with Yuki. He would never want me, a disgraceful human girl with cyborg parts. It was safe for me to confess to him, for it could only be a dream.

With the scent of fresh pine around me, I professed, "I love him. I love you, Kaname."

In my dream, Kaname answered back, "I love you, Jade. I have since I first met you and I always will. Please don't leave me. I can't live without you."


	3. Part Three

**Word Count: 1110**

 **Part Three**

When I came to, the first thing my ears picked up on were voices.

"...better be awake, Kuran. Or else, I'll kill you," a voice that was unmistakably Zero's threatened.

"Don't make the mistake that you are the only one who cares for Jade, Kiryu."

 _What did_ _Kaname_ _mean by that?_ Kaname didn't care. It was only in my dreams where Kaname loved me.

"Do you really believe she'd ever care for you? Jade despises Purebloods," Zero retorted.

"You sound jealous, Kiryu," Kaname commented calmly, seeming to be amused.

"I just want what's best for her, that's all. And you're obviously not it, so get over yourself, Kuran."

I had been moving my limbs ever so slightly throughout their argument and by that point, my body had loosened up enough. I groaned as I stretched, preventing Kaname from responding as I interrupted them. As I slowly blinked my eyes open, both Kaname and Zero turned to face me, relief evident on their faces.

When I attempted to push myself up into a sitting position, however, Zero ran to my side and stopped me. "No, Jade, you can't! Your body is still too weak. You need to be very careful, okay?"

I nodded to show I understood, then opened my mouth to ask the question that I had been dying to know the answer to. "H-how..." I licked my dry lips, struggling to get the words out.

"You were unconscious for a week, Jade." Kaname seemed to realise that was my unspoken question.

I gasped. How could that be?

"I found you passed out in the forest and brought you here right away," Kaname continued, gesturing to the room we were in. It was only after he made that remark that I noticed we weren't in the Moon dorm.

I took a glance around to figure out where I was brought when I was unconscious. Everything was white. The walls, the floor, even the bed I was lying on. A white so pristine that could exist in one place: the school's infirmary.

"Jade..." Kaname trailed off softly, giving me a glass of water. I tensed as I steadily brought the glass to my lips and gulped, bracing myself, as I had a feeling what question was to come.

"Where the hell did you go!" Zero bellowed in my face, his words less of a question and more of an accusation.

"Kiryu!" Kaname snapped, glaring at Zero. Zero, however, just kept his glare on me.

I sighed, causing Kaname's gaze to flicker toward me. "I went..." I paused, searching for the right wording. "On a quest."

"A quest? Why?" Kaname questioned, his eyes desperately searching my face for any hints at answers.

"Because..." I trailed off. I was going to have to get everything out into the open, wasn't I? From the beginning. Stroking the glass to avoid looking at either of them in the eyes, I started to explain. "Well, a week ago, I had this strange dream. In it, there was a woman. She was of average height, I'd say around 5' 6". She had long brown hair and eyes like yours, Kaname."

"Juri Kuran," Kaname confirmed her name. I could feel his eyes on me.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Anyway, she told me of a way to help... to help Zero."

"Help me?" Zero sounded confused.

"Well, yeah. You're falling to Level E, fast, and there's not a way to stop it. I can't let my little brother lose his humanity." I looked up, finally, to see Zero's small smile. I took another swallow of water and cleared my throat, looking down at the glass again. "Juri said there was a stone circle somewhere, as black as night, with a blood-red rose blooming in the centre that would lead me on a quest to find a cure."

"So you went on this quest..." Kaname remarked rather calmly.

Zero, on the other hand, wasn't so calm. "And you just decided to trust this... this dream woman?" His question was accusatory like I had done something wrong.

"She had a solution, Zero! One that could save you. Besides, she guided me in the right general direction. She helped me as much as she could." My words seemed to confuse Kaname, but Zero was too livid to pay attention to clarity.

Zero, still maddened, made another move to protest again, but an arm blocking his stomach held him back as Kaname halted his attempt.

"What do you mean as much as she could, Jade?" Kaname's question wasn't accusatory but rather gentle and curious.

I sighed softly. "Juri explained that there would be a point where she couldn't help me anymore. From that moment on, it would be up to me and me alone. The quest, she clarified, was a test of my worth, to see if the cure was deserved."

I must have had some sort of pained expression on my face because Kaname said something. "It was that bad, huh?" His tone was soft, soothing. My eyes snapped up to his. Kaname gave me a breath-taking, reassuring smile, and I knew I could confide in him with what happened. Partially, at least.

"So..." Zero was the one to break the silence. Awkward for him, comfortable for me and Kaname. "What is this cure?" He seemed to have calmed down reasonably.

"I... don't know," I admitted shamefully. "There were these visions... and they spiralled out of control. Next thing I knew, I was somewhere else, and then here." Kaname, sensing my self-disgrace, moved closer to my bed to console me.

"Oh, that's okay." Zero didn't sound that disappointed. "What about the quest, then? Did you pass or whatnot?"

I couldn't even speak my answer. I shook my head sheepishly as I covered my mouth with my hand, silent tears that shook my body now rolling down my face. I failed. How could I have failed?

"Kiryu," Kaname scolded sternly. He commanded power with just one word. I could feel the heat of the glare he was directing at Zero, who assumedly left based on the lack of retort.

I felt the warmth of a pair of arms around my shoulders, felt the weight of a body next to me on the bed and the body heat it gave off. The person was snug and warm and everything I needed. Kaname.

"Don't worry, Jade. I'm here to protect you, my love." Kaname's words made my heart swell, and the vibration of his voice was incredibly relaxing. I would have swooned if in the right frame of mind. My heart soaring, I drifted off in the arms of the love of my life.


End file.
